AZ54

Y’all have a lot of confidence in preseason reporting. I’d have been good with Josh Simmons but I do wonder about those work ethic questions and how that would fit into Ben’s culture. Ersery too could have helped. We’ll see how it shakes out by week 8. i watched Bears reports and we had a lot of good plays against the Bills. I watched Bills reports and they were happy because they had a lot of good plays against the Bears. The one player that caught their eye as a problem: Rome.

I"m not that worried about LT because at least there are 4 options roughly as good as Braxton Jones so I know what the floor is. Can we make it better than that? I sure hope so but as Ben Johnson said today it might take some time, even into the season to get it right. Ben was clear about Ozzy that he's too slow off the snap, but he's much better at RT. He likely has good enough traits to get where we need him to be but switching from RT to LT hasn't been as easy as hoped. Ben likes what Theo has done at RT and decided to try him at LT but again it's going to take him time to adjust. It'll be interesting to see him this weekend. Kiran is just a wildcard...there was no mention of what they think of him. My biggest concern with Braxton is the mental lapses where he gets beaten very early in the snap. It's one thing to lose the rep 2s into the play, another to lose inside 1s. His good plays are acceptable but I suspect at minimum Ben wants to find a more consistent floor or Caleb is going to come out of the some the play action fakes and get leveled.

I’ll just take Ben Johnson at his word that he wants his starters to get the maximum number of reps they can get in camp and preseason. By letting them skip the game they were able to pick up an additional 50 practice reps. It’s not the same as a game but he also doesn’t have dumb down the script like he would have for a game. The joint practices allow him to do that and he gets to see what they can do well. After this week things start getting locked in and he said as they prep for Wk 1 the offense will get trimmed down with shorter play calls and a clearer game plan. He’s keeping his cards close to the vest stating that they still don’t know what type of running game they’ll be using. He’s keeping the Vikings guessing.

It could be that our best option if Wright goes down is to move Trapilo from LT to RT and bring Braxton off the bench. Game day active rosters give limited options that are different from long term replacement. Either way a little competition is good.

Maybe but proper stance also applies to reacting to a sudden Inside rush.

I only heard generic talk about technique being good one day and bad the next and the standard needs to be met.

I know we've got some injuries to the CBs but we just added 4 safeties to our roster. Something is going to change on that depth chart. I hope Owens gets cut. I was hopeful for Tysheem Johnson was good enough to make the 53 but adding this much competition late in camp doesn't bode well for him.

Gonna be harder to hold the ball in the pocket with two hands until he gets full strength back.

AZ’s skimmed down analysis. Trapillo is just stronger than Jones and it showed up everywhere. Most importantly to me is that Trapilo has quicker feet and he’s better at taking baby steps to mirror pass rushers. Kinda surprising for a tall guy.

Ozzy showed he belongs on an NFL field and the game wasn’t too big for him. However it shakes out our backup LT will be the best backup LT we’ve had in years.

That game felt organized. I watched to the bitter end with two 2 min offenses. Plus the way we ended the first half it always felt the way an NFL game should feel. I didn’t see players running on the field late or time outs for misalignments. In short I didn’t see what I usually see in a first Bears preseason game.

I’d be equally happy if Amegadji turned into a good starting LT.

I thought Keenum looked like the old man that he is and my take away was we should keep 2 QBs and use that roster spot elsewhere like the backup Oline where it seems we have several players who are developing well. I can't speak for his off the field help in the meeting rooms or sidelines. I'm sure that's good but we also have coaches who are supposed to do that.

For the record I like this approach. Doing things right vs. having a fortuitous outcome are two different things. These coaches want things done right so they won't need good luck.

Do any of our coaches smile? Even after good plays everything is a teachable moment.

This UDFA receiver Walker has NFL athletic talent. He’s got much to learn but seems to be a likely candidate for the practice squad. I like Ian Wheeler potential too but we’ll see if he gets more decisive as he gains confidence in the knee.

Then he gets pulled and Theo Benedet takes over at LT. No clue what to read into that

Yeah he’s been best a couple times. I want to see more though. Get past the nerves and see if he settles in.

Arch Manning isn’t very good.

The Jets would be better with Bagent than Fields. Justin still has that hitch in his release and a hitch in his reads.

I’m not seeing early pressure up the middle. Therefore I’m giving Oline the early kudos.

All the training camp reports say the offense is supposed to be complex with lots of presnap motion. So far this looks pretty basic. And bad.

It’s preseason 4th and goal Bears make the stop and the whole stadium goes nuts. Football is back!

I'm glad they are forcing more returns so we get more explosive plays... or stopping returns at the 20yd line which is a good defensive play. At a minimum we need something approaching a competitive play in this team sport.

I've had my own struggles with similar issues over the last 8-10 years. Aways believe there is a way you just have to find it. I'm not a doctor so it took me 5 years to learn to search for things that improve mitochondrial health. Now in my 60's, having found the right formula has been a game changer for me. It's not one thing and we're all unique and have to find what works for each of us. I hope you find what works for you.